Wednesday, February 1, 6:30-8:00pm: Public Art Fund Talk at Cooper Union

Join artists Layqa Nuna Yawar and Karyn Olivier for an artist talk with Nicholas Baume, Artistic & Executive Director of Public Art Fund. The discussion will center on Layqa Nuna Yawar’s Between the Future Past (2021-22) and Karyn Olivier’s Approach (2022), two monumental, site-specific works recently created for the new Terminal A at Newark Liberty International Airport. Both artworks serve as love letters to New Jersey and pay homage to its local heroes and unique geography. The artworks by Layqa Nuna Yawar and Karyn Olivier are commissioned by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and Munich Airport NJ, in partnership with Public Art Fund. Above: Layqa Nuna Yawar. Between the Future Past, 2021-22

Register for in person here. Register for Zoom here

Public Art Fund Talks, organized in collaboration with The Cooper Union, connect compelling contemporary artists to a broad public by establishing a dialogue about artistic practices and public art. The Talks are offered free of charge. 

Save the date: February 15, 6:30 pm: Art in the City
Forty years ago New York City enacted the Percent for Art law that requires one percent of the budget for eligible City-funded construction to be dedicated to creating public artworks. But the city’s support of art and design includes much more than what the Percent for Art law provides. From grants and fellowships to installations and even city jobs, join panelists from different city agencies to learn about different opportunities offered to architects and artists. Panelists include Xenia Diente, Cooper Union School of Art alumna and Public Art Deputy Director, Project Excellence with the Department of Design and Construction; Kendal Henry, Assistant Commissioner, Public Art, with NYC Department of Cultural Affairs; Nina Marren, Acting Director of the Department of Transportation’s Art Program; and Elizabeth Masella, Senior Public Art Coordinator for NYC Parks. Whitney Oldenburg, director of The Cooper Union Center for Career Development, moderates.  Register

Cooper Union, The Frederick Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square, New York, NY Map

Friday, February 3, m 6-8 pm: Xiyadie: Queer Cut Utopias at the Drawing Center

The name Xiyadie, which translates to Siberian Butterfly, is one the artist chose for himself to describe his upbringing in the Shaanxi Province of Northwest China. A reflection of his personal and artistic evolution, the pseudonym also denotes Xiyadie’s enduring resilience despite the fact that he has never been able to freely show his homoerotic work or live openly with regard to his sexual orientation. Queer Cut Utopias will feature more than thirty of Xiyadie’s intricate paper-cuts, dating from the early 1980s through today, each of which articulates his longing to fully express his queer desire.

Xiyadie is the first known Chinese paper-cut artist to publicly depart from the Chinese folk-art context. Since the 1980s, he has deployed traditional techniques to articulate, destigmatize, and celebrate queerness. “This is my stage. Here I can dance with abandon, I can give free rein to my thoughts, I can live out my fantasies,” the artist has explained referring to his medium. “Here, I can fly to the moon, I can become a butterfly, I can love, and I can hate. This is the place where I can be free."

Save the date: Tuesday, Fegruary 7, 6:30pm: Associate Curator Rosario Güiraldes and Tate's Adjunct Curator of Greater China Hera Chan will discuss the evolution of Xiyadie’s personal and artistic expression within the context of China, and his unique fusion of traditional folk forms and iconography with narratives from his personal  life. Register

The Drawing Center, 35 Wooster Street, New York, NY Info

Saturday, February 4, 12:30-3:30: Bookbinding Workshop with Chang Yuchen at Printed Matter

This class is a hands-on exploration of the physical structure and metaphorical possibilities of the book form. Participants will get a brief introduction to the history of artists' books and Printed Matter, then create three styles of books: Hidden Book, 3-hole Pamphlet and Long Stitch. 

Bookbinding tool sets will be provided for all participants, and no prior experience is necessary. There is a suggested donation of $20 to help cover class costs. Space is limited; if you are unable to register and would like to be added to a waitlist please fill out this form.

Printed Matter/Saint Marks, 38 Saint Marks Place, New York, NY Register

Thursday, February 9, 6-8 pm: Nicole Eisenman | Prince at Print Center

Celebrated for her painting and, more recently, her work in sculpture, Nicole Eisenman has also produced a significant body of prints since 2010, in various mediums including lithographs, etchings, woodcuts, and monotypes. These works evidence the voracious range of references, imagery, and styles for which the artist is known. They also show how Eisenman has pushed these mediums, engaging materials, surfaces, and mark making in unexpected ways. Made in close collaboration with the New York–based print workshops Harlan & Weaver, Jungle Press, and 10 Grand Press, the works in Prince demonstrate how printmaking has been a generative space for experimentation within Eisenman’s broader practice. 

Nicole Eisenman: Prince was originally organized by Loretta Yarlow at the University Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The presentation at Print Center New York is organized by Jenn Bratovich and Judy Hecker.

Print Center NY, 535 West 24^th Street, New York, NY RSVP

Continuing: Pattern and Flow | American Decorated Papers at the Grolier Club

Pattern and Flow surveys the golden age of American decorated paper, telling the story of 53 imaginative and innovative artists who, working independently and together, revived the largely forgotten arts of marbled and paste paper design. The designs created by these pioneers and their followers take traditional art forms to new, expressive dimensions—some works are somber, with muted tones and subtle coloration, others are explosive in their use of color, hypnotizing ripples and wave patterns, or tessellated decorations. The colors and shapes allude to the seasons, the sea, geologic formations, and cosmic imaginings, or demonstrate pure and non-allusive abstraction.

Curated by Mindell Dubansky (Museum Librarian for Preservation at the Thomas J. Watson Library at The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Pattern and Flow features a decade-by-decade look at the field through 150 objects from the Watson Library collection. Decorated papers will be shown in context with rare books, objects, color recipe books, correspondence, photographs, and hand-tools used by Paper Legacy artists. The full exhibition is also available to view online.

The Grolier Club, 47 East 60^th Street, New York, NY Info